“OW!” I scream as a pin digs deep into my skin. “Watch it!”

“It’ll hurt more if you struggle!” Maybe yells back. She waves her hands and the needles, thread, and fabric flutter around me in a different pattern.

“Do they have to be so aggressive about it?” I ask as the side of my jacket gets pulled tightly together by an invisible nothing and a needle starts to sew through it.

Maybe huffs in a corner while sifting through fabrics. “It’s not my fault your paperwork wasn’t finished and you didn’t get any uniforms.” She pulls out a swatch of fabric that is surprisingly close in color to the royal blue and gold of the uniform… except it was covered in stars and moons. “You’re lucky there were enough pieces in lost and found to even stitch something together for you.”

“I don’t know if lucky is the word I would use,” I say as the fabric wraps around me and starts to sew itself into a cape. I look at the fabric around my shoulders. If feels so… cliche. “Is this really necessary?” 

“Section 5a of the Wizard Prep manual says the official uniform of Wizard Prep is: one standard issue blazer. One standard issue pair of slacks, shorts, or a skirt past the knees. One standard issue tie. One standard issue shirt in white or blue. One standard issue cape or cloak. One standard issue hat. Freedom to customize is allowed to the extent that learning is not inhibited, and nothing is obscene or inappropriate for a learning environment.” 

Maybe quoted the entire thing with her eyes closed and one finger in the air like she’d memorized this the day she arrived and practiced it daily. I can only imagine she’s customized her own uniform nearly to the point of not being recognized, so it makes sense.

“But these won’t be ‘standard issue’” I say and pick up the end of the cape. 

“They won’t notice. Students do all kinds of silly things to their uniforms. Besides, no one wears the cape and hat to classes. Only for official ceremonies.” Maybe waves her hand and a whole other bunch of blue fabric piles together and starts sewing into… something else.

“I should really get my paperwork filled out.” I sigh as the supplies finally release me to take off the inside-out jacket and toss it on my bed.

Maybe chuckles. “Good luck getting Prince Lazy-pants to do that for you.”

I sit on my bed next to my jacket as the cape flies off my shoulders to continue to sew somewhere else. “You really don’t like him, do you?”

“Rhett?” Maybe chuckles again, this time more nervously. “Yeah, well, that’s what happens when your best friend leaves you to be one of the cool kids.”

I gasp involuntarily. Best friends? Maybe and Rhett? No way. They seem like they’d sooner throw fists than be friends.

“What? Since when—” I don’t even get the chance to ask before Maybe throws herself dramatically onto her bed, flat on her back, with her arm over her forehead.

“Ever since we were children. My mother is the head seamstress for the royal family, and they loved her so much, they let her live on the grounds. I grew up in the castle, and since Rhett and I were the same age, we were close since the day I moved in,” she says every word like it’s the most emotional speech ever given. “Eight years we were as close as close could be. Then, four years into Wizard Prep, he started to ignore me for his cool friends and we stopped talking and have never been friends again.”

She lets out something that sounds like a cry, but extremely fake, as she rolls over and plants her face on her pillow.

“Oh,” I say, because what else am I supposed to say to that performance? I can even wrap my head around the fact that Maybe grew up in a castle… though somehow that clicked into place perfectly. Even if it isn't the backstory I'd created for her in my head.

“Sorry, I guess,” I continue with not as much sympathy as I know I should have. Sure it doesn’t seem nice that Rhett abandoned her to be with his cool friends, or whatever. But that doesn’t exactly make him a Marcus Mudfoot, or anything. 

He'd been so kind to me, and I would keep holding onto the thought that he is, in fact, a good person.

“I.. uh, I lost my best friend too,” I say to at least be relatable. “He left on some big adventure two years ago and I never saw him again. It messed me up for a long time. I... uh... I never really made friends again.”

That's something I haven't ever said outloud before, true as it is.

Maybe pops back up off her bed, not actually looking upset about anything she'd said before. “But that’s okay because now we are friends!”

“And we won't leave each other for cool kids and adventures, right?” I ask in the smallest, most timid tone. I couldn't handle losing friends again.

“Yes!” Maybe cheers and starts pulling clothes out of a giant, pink trunk sitting at the foot of her bed. “And that means you get best friend privileges of modeling all my new designs! I can’t wait to show you some of the best ones. You’ll love them. And don’t worry, we’ll work on that whole fashion issue of yours. No one is un-fixable…” She continues to rattle on while I watch from my bed laughing and giggling along as she pulls out some of her silliest clothes.

She’s eccentric, for sure… but I kind of like her.

It felt nice to finally have friends again. I hoped this time, they'd stick around... for as long as I lasted at Wizard Prep, at least.